I remember when I first got started in online marketing I read a stat that blew my mind.

At the time, your average American internet user was visiting 50 different websites every day. To me, this stat meant that there are 50 ways to get your message in front of the right people every single day.

Now, we all know that marketing is about more than finding the right market, it is about bridging the right message with the right media at the right time.

How many different ways do you currently drive traffic to your website?

Or, for that matter, how many different ways do you market yourself to find new customers? If you are using more than 3 unique strategies, than you are in the minority. Most businesses depend on 1-3 sources of traffic and customers.

The truth is though, there are probably close to 15 unique ways you can be finding customers, and easily as many if not more ways to generate targeted traffic for your website.

Previously I shared with you somegreat strategies in this post about Insurance Library. Where I discussed using Q&A sites to find prospects.

You no doubt read my big list of ways to generate traffic for your website, but in this post I want to focus on some unconventional strategies.

There is a clever traffic generation click that sneaks up on prospects in a friendly, yet unassuming way.

Basically, you need to come up with an excuse to engage someone in conversation, and than leave breadcrumbs for them to follow to reach and click on the site you want them to.

A classic example is to engage with someone in a blog comment, or on a social post they made. Odds are, they will likely notice you and click through to see who you are. I know I do this all the time.

But, you can take this a step further with some clever sneak attack strategies.

1. User Testing - Sometimes user testing can cost $30+ each, but there are much cheaper options, some even free, like asking in a forum or on reddit for a site review and critique. More importantly though, asking people for feedback is the perfect way to get noticed. A couple years ago, I was consulting for a new user testing company and my recommendation to them was to run user tests to acquire customers. Basically, they would pay a user testing service to have their users test the website, and since the website was targeted to user testers, he was able to reach very targeted traffic. Nowadays, with user testing you can set all sorts of requirements and criteria, which help you reach the right people at the right time. This strategy actually works for many other industries as well. After all, someone running user tests to make a few bucks online is probably also interested in making money online opportunities, ,many might even be willing to be affiliate marketers or social ambassadors, etc…

2. Design contests - Sites like 99Designs let you create a design content where hundreds if not thousands of designers will notice your ad and many will compete to win the contest you post. If you were launching a freelancer website, this would be a great way to get noticed by your target market. If you are launching a marketplace for designs like CreativeMarket, this would be a great strategy to reach your audience. This also works for other freelancer networks.

3. Linking to sites you want exposure from. I notice any new links that point to my blog. In fact, the moment I see referral traffic from a new source, I will spend 5-10 minutes researching exactly who is linking to me and not only do I discover new products and services, I also discover people worth building a relationship with. Even without a link, I have Google Alerts set up for my name, and my different company names, clients names, etc… In fact many people have social media listening/monitoring tools setup as well looking for brand or name mentions. These are great strategies for reaching influencers. Trust me, most of them will notice.

4. Job Websites - If you are trying to reach prospects, one of the best ways to get noticed is to post a job online. Thousands will see it, and the posting cost will easily be covered.

5. Classifieds websites - Post a gig or a job, or even an item for sale. Just think about which sections will reach your audience and post something related. For example, if you do landscaping, maybe sell a used lawnmower on craigslist and nextdoor.com and you will reach local prospects who will now know you exist. Don’t forget that there are literally hundreds of niche websites that offer classifieds for specific industries and verticals. I sometimes browse the job board on problogger looking for writing opportunities, but I’ll often discover other marketing blogs or websites that are relevant to me.

I think its important to note that you still need to be authentic with your engagement. Most people can sniff out a sales pitch from a mile away.

As Dan Kennedy says, never underestimate the skepticism of your market. You can assume whatever you want about them and their intelligence level, but…NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THEIR SKEPTICISM! This is the reason you should be forthcoming about any flaws in your business and possible objections your prospects may have.

What are some other websites you can think of to sneak up on your audience without screaming for attention?

You can do something simple like which of two logos do you prefer. This will not only give great insights, but will help you reach your audience in an indirect way.

In fact, for fifty cents an answer, you can ask a qualifying question first. For example, you can first ask, do you own a website, and than ask your survey question. Just make sure to include details about your business in the question, so they are exposed to your brand in an authentically engaging way.

Think about all the websites your targeted persona’s visit and think about all the different ways you get in front of them inconspicuously. I bet you can come up with a dozen ways, many of them free, that you can sneak up on your audience and engaged them authentically.

Now, for the best strategy of them all… Numero Seven…

7. Integration partners with other websites.

The most valuable traffic I have ever found online is getting traffic from an industry peer who gives out your content to their audience. Guest posting is a simple version of this, a much more effective version is giving away free bonuses of your content with the purchase of a related product from an industry peer. Not only do you reach your audience for just the cost of content, and not only do you get instant credibility by having them share your content, but you reach people who are actively demonstrating a willingness and ability to buy a related product. There is no other way I know to actually reach prospects who demonstrated and ability to pay and a willingness to buy.

With that in mind, you should know that I discover new companies all the time by browsing zapier, ifttt and other sites that connect API’s to see who they integrate with. Same goes for Marketo. They list all sorts of marketing apps that integrate with their system. It’s called Launchpoint, and it is full of excellent marketing tools. So, if you have some sort of software, integrate with Zapier, Integrate with other platforms, especially universal ones, and you will see it drive all sorts of targeted traffic your way.

I have easily spent over $10,000 over the years with companies I discovered by browsing the directory of services that integrate with the services and apps I currently use and many that I don’t even use, but may want to in the future. Integrate and you will not only add a new access point to your system, but you will get lots of free marketing and exposure to extremely qualified prospects.

About David Melamed

David Melamed is a Thought Leader on Search Engine Optimization and Marketing featured on Mashable, Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, Adotas, and Shoemoney.
David writes regularly at DavidMelamed.com offering tactical tips, tricks, and startegies to find, engage, nurture, and retain customers. David Melamed is the Founder of Customer Hunter Corp. A content development and promotion agency and Tenfold Traffic a search marketing agency.

That was a stat from 2005. If you are visiting 200 sites a day, you might want to try out a great free app called RescueTime. It keeps track of how much time you spend doing different things online so you can see if you are wasting time on unproductive things. It’s a great tool that I personally love and use.

What happens when Facebook changes their algorithms for surfacing your content or decides to charge you $100k a year to message your fans and followers?
What happens when the FCC changes the rules about what you can and can’t email to people?

You need to diversify to make sure you don’t get crushed by a change.

Dan Kennedy always says, “ONE is the Worst Number in Business.” Anytime you are dependent on one person, one source of revenue or traffic, you are stuck.

you need to build more of what we Call “Owned Media” Facebook and other sites are borrowed media.

I think the point is more to get in front of the right people. You might be able to get creative with your strategy to draw people into your site, but that strategy probably works better for brand recognition.

If you asking leading questions, (i.e. does our logo make you feel like you’ll make money if you visit Shoemoney.com) that might lead to people visit the site and associate with making money.

Great to find some new ideas for generating valuable traffic to one’s site or blog with an effective strategy as you have shared in the post.

I liked these two strategies (Integration with other sites and classified sites) to be best working for most of the niche targeting sites. By integrating with other related site, we will get more exposure from targeted audience and a large number of new users can be explored through classified posting.

Although the idea of contests is also good to engage users on one’s site for long time.
Anyways, thanks for sharing the post here on Kingged.com.